Grand Central Market is not new. It's old. Grandpa old. Maybe great-grandpa old. Ninety-nine years old. It has always been filled with stalls selling amazing food, but now some of the city's best chefs are opening booths instead of restaurants. Like Alvin Cailan of EGGSLUT (1). People wait upwards of an hour for his egg creations, which are as decadent as the name is awkward to say in mixed company. Take yours to G&B (2), one of the best coffee shops in town and a sneaky Grand Central Market hack: When seats elsewhere are scarce, order a cup and perch on one of G&B's stools.

If you stop by GCM for lunch—prime stall-eating time—here's how to avoid the tyranny of choice. Visit BELCAMPO (3) if you don't plan to do anything strenuous for a solid two hours. Part high-end butcher shop, part lunch counter, part revolutionary meat company (they raise, slaughter, and sell everything themselves), it also serves one of America's truly great burgers, with fries cooked in beef fat. For lighter and spicier, stop by STICKY RICE (4), a two-faced Thai-street-food stall—one side is dedicated to noodles and the other to curries and rice dishes. You can also go old-school: Micah Wexler used to be a fine-dining chef before he created WEXLER'S DELI (5), where he cures his own lox and smokes his own pastrami. Or go older-school at TACOS TUMBRAS A TOMAS (6). Tomas Martinez, a GCM mainstay for 20 years, serves massive helpings of juicy carnitas for just three bucks a plate. No, he's not new blood, but were you paying attention? Carnitas heap for three bucks!

Finish your tour-slash-binge with the chocolate cake at VALERIE AT GCM (7), then buy a box of petits fours as a gift—for your wife, who didn't make the trip, or for you, on the flight home.

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